June 16, 1998 New Products Xfactory Xfactory from USDATA (Richardson, Tex.; www.usdata.com) is a manufacturing execution system (MES) based entirely on Microsoft's ActiveX components. Xfactory's visual object modeling MES enables manufacturers to integrate multiple production areas, inventory management, scheduling, planning and business management into a single environment. By creating a visual representation of the factory using objects that represent different manufacturing functions, Xfactory users are able to model, configure and define applicatons for their plant by using simple point, click, drag and drop methods. Common Object Model (COM) and ActiveX specifications allow client application software to run on a variety of platforms with little or no configuration of the client computer. Xfactory client components can be incorporated in such environments as Visual Basic, C/C++ and SCADA packages. Client applications can also be run as ActiveX documents inside a Web browser, and Xfactory components are completely capable of running across the Internet. Xfactory is a work-in-process (WIP) tracking proudct that uses event pipelining to send and receive production information. This event-based means of distributing manufacturing data allows clients to register and respond to plant events from anywhere on the network, providing real-time integration. Event-based messaging and ActiveX Object Interpreter allow a real-time means to complete read/write access without resorting to SQL. The Manufacturing Report © Copyright 1997, 1998 by Lionheart Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. E-mail Editorial Dept: tmr-editorial@lionhrtpub.com Lionheart Publishing, Inc. 2555 Cumberland Parkway, Suite 299, Atlanta, GA 30339 USA Phone: 770-431-0867 | Fax: 770-432-6969 E-mail: lpi@lionhrtpub.com Web Design by Premier Web Designs E-mail: lionwebmaster@preweb.com